Friday, August 21, 2009

My last political post

Not only did I get a number of on-line responses about my political post last night, I also received four letters and a phone call. So I'll briefly try to clarify some misunderstandings.

--One letter writer said I was being a "snob" for calling the town hall meeting protestors "dirtbags." She said that I was making fun of the working class.

Hardly. I grew up working class and still consider myself working class. But when I said "dirtbags" I didn't have class in mind. To me dirtbags are people (irrespective of social class) who espouse the belief that

Obama was not born in the United States
That Obama has "Nazi" leanings of any kind
That the US government will get into your bank account if the public option is passed
That Obama will kill your grandma

On the latter subject, if you saw Jon Stewart last night you saw him destroy Betsy McCaughey, the insurance industry's favorite witch.. She made the mistake of bringing in the first half of the thousand page congressional bill now being proposed. She slammed it down on the desk, thinking she was very very smart. Unfortunately for her Stewart made her read the section pertaining to the so-called death panels. He let her interpret the section first. It was clear that she was using "hyperbole" (the polite term for lies) in her reading of the bill. Then he destroyed her. He gave her two segments and he humiliated her. You could tell she thinks of herself as pretty hot stuff. Not by the time he got done with her.

--Three of the letter writers said I was left wing. You know, until Bush's invasion of Iraq there were Republicans I still voted for. I've always voted split tickets. On my office door is a large black and white photograph of Dwight Eisenhower. Whenever liberals say that LBJ passed the civil rights bill I remind that them, no, he didn't--Ev Dirksen did. The Dixiecrats were against it to a man. Dirksen got LBJ the needed votes by appealing to his fellow Republicans. For all the terrible things he did Dick Nixon passed more poverty legislation than any president in our history. A number of Republicans turned against Nixon early in the Watergate investigation. I wrote political speeches for five years. The man I admired most was a Republican governor, a moderate, the first major GOP figure to come out against the war in Viet Nam. I wrote the speech for him. The GOP was stunned.

I want a two party system but as Bill Maher says what we have now is a GOP party that is truly ready for a mental hospital and a Dem party that is now as conservative as the old (legitimate) GOP.

I mean Governor Hair in Texas talks about secession and just today sleazebags Jim DeMint and Michelle Bachmann advocate
nullification of if Obama gets his health care plan. In case you don't know what that means, here's Josh Marshall's definition:

"Nullification, the constitutional theory that states can block enforcement of federal laws they find objectionable, was crackpot from the start and hasn't been seriously entertained anywhere in the county since the Civil War (with the exception of feigned attempts in the South during the Civil Right Era). Nullification, to give you a thumbnail idea, is sort of like secession a la carte."

I'm left wing because I'm against people like this? The GOP is a regional religious party that may just win a lot of seats in 2010. There's a new Gallup poll out today that shows Obama's support falling steadily--among Dem progressives.

This is the last I'll write about politics for a long, long time.

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I also won't be posting for awhile. I'm going through a number of medical tests now and they're pretty draining. The first couple I held up all right but the one today has me pretty tired.

15 comments:

Unknown said...

Hang in there, Ed. Those tests are probably much worse than you make them sound. We're keeping a good thought here in Alvin.

Anonymous said...

Take care of yourself, Ed. Best wishes and thoughts.

Ed Lynskey

pattinase (abbott) said...

Take care, Ed. I think of you often.

Todd Mason said...

Take care of yourself, Ed. But come back and post, about politics or what have you, when you feel the spirit moving you. All it takes for the idjits to be the only voices heard is for the non-idjits to say nothing...that and how the idjits are often "entertainers" sponsored by rich broadcasting interests.

Better days, sir.

Bob Levinson said...

Ed,

As ever, our thought are with you.

bruce said...

Only dirtbags think it might be a bad idea to give our spoils system more clout over health care?
A well-run nation health system would be great.
Think we'd get it?

Dory Stewart said...

After hearing your comments re: Jon Stewart and his come-back to the partial HCR bill being slapped on his place of business...

I'm re-budgeting my SS. I've GOT to get cable!!

And maybe, just maybe Jon Stewart and I somehow are related....
Better him than that 'race car' driver with the same last name.:)

Keeping my fingers crossed for you.

Iren said...

I wanted to echo everyone's well wishes.

on the political tip, it sounds what you are talking about is good old fashion Moderate Republicans, who seem to have left the building.

I for one just wish that both sides would be more willing to listen, not even talk, to each other.

Christopher said...

There was a time I voted for republicans also.

Jon Stewart is my hero.

MP said...

Just concentrate on getting better, Ed. We need voices of sanity like yours to get us through these crazy times. As Hunter Thompson once said, "when the going gets weird, the weird turn pro". The GOP is now a party of professional weirdos.

Brendan DuBois said...

Ed, you take care of yourself, all right? This is one of my favorite places to visit on the web... and I want to keep on reading you for a long, long time to come...

Hang in there (from someone who's been down a similar road...)

-- Brendan

David Jack Bell said...

Good luck with the tests, Ed. We'll be thinking of you.

David

Juri said...

Good luck and all that, Ed.

As someone who's been living in a country where welfare has for decades been state-run, I can't but marvel at what these people are talking about. Communist/fascist plot? Simply absurd.

Anonymous said...

Ed: What you said. You go!

I'm sorry to hear the tests are such a drain. Hang in there, and I'll be thinking of you.

Jeff P.

Cap'n Bob said...

Best of luck, Ed. And I want to publicly thank you for your part in Five Star, without which I would be unpublished (deservedly so if you ask some s.o.b. at Kirkus).